


Snowbound

by ReidFan



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 03:21:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5811760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReidFan/pseuds/ReidFan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the snowstorm that hit the US east coast Jan 22-23-24/16 results in Spencer being snowbound for the weekend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snowbound

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by a major snowstorm dumped down on the eastern United States Jan 22-23-24/16. Quotes taken from Life in the Woods, by Henry David Thoreau. I’ve also taken a few liberties, like making the DC electricity supply ( the company is called Pepco) more vulnerable than it actually is. Necessary for storyline purposes. Sue me :-P and finally, thank you to my JittTwin Diana for her creative input and feedback )

Snowbound

(CM, NC-17, Reid/Loker)

 

©mccabebabe@hotmail.com

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

 

“They found his car, Hotch. In the commuter parking lot near his apartment,” Garcia was nearly in tears as she relayed this new information to the unit boss.

 

“That makes no damned sense. Why would he drive to a lot to catch the subway when he can grab it pretty much right outside his door?” Hotch frowned. “And why wouldn’t he have just gone back home?” Garcia was still on the phone, half listening to her caller, half listening to SSAs Hotch and Rossi who clustered around her desk.

 

“Maybe the snow, Aaron?” Rossi piped up. “He doesn’t drive much and the weather, well, this has been quite the snowstorm. Stormzilla, they’re calling it. Hell froze over, I say.”

 

The storm had come in and hit DC and area with a vengeance Friday night. Tara Lewis and Spencer Reid had both left the office in the early evening, both had long commutes home, Reid took the train making his trek even longer. Most of the other members of the BAU left for home later that night. Lewis had checked in with David Rossi, letting him know when she’d arrived safely home but the roads were closed behind her. Morgan and JJ were both turned back by closed roads and whiteout conditions. Rossi had bullied his way past a roadblock to go home. And Hotchner and Garcia had never left the office, both felt it was best to stay put and finish work. As it turned out, JJ and Morgan both had to return and the four of them had had a popcorn and movie night at the office, before hunkering down on couches and cots they had retrieved from storage.

 

It was Saturday afternoon that the group began to worry about Reid, who hadn’t checked in with them. Rossi returned to the office after Garcia had called him to let him know they still hadn’t heard from Reid.

 

“Derek says the key’s still in the ignition. It won’t turn over, but the gas tank’s not empty,” Garcia informed the others, moving her cellphone from one ear to the other.

 

“There’s gotta be three feet of snow out there,” Rossi exclaimed. “What the hell-“ he trailed off as the power flickered on briefly and then off again. “Wonderful.”

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

“Then where the hell is he?” Derek Morgan slammed a fist down on the hood of the car and turned to face his colleague Jennifer Jareau.

 

“Let’s go back to his apartment and see if we can figure that out,” she suggested. Morgan opened the car door, and reached in with a gloved hand to retrieve the key from the ignition. It was frozen in place and try as he might, he couldn’t move it. His brow furrowed and a frown crossed his face.

 

“JJ. Reid wasn’t the one driving his car.”

 

“What? Derek, how do-“ her question died on her lips as she realised what Morgan had noticed. The driver’s seat was pushed fully forward. Reid was tall. Taller than even Morgan, who was trying to sit in the driver’s seat and couldn’t in its current position.

 

“Oh my god, check the trunk!” JJ fairly shouted as law enforcement intuition kicked in. Morgan pushed the trunk release, extricated himself from the vehicle and together they raced to the back to open the trunk.

 

She held her breath but let out a relieved sigh when they found just the expected kinds of things in the trunk: spare tire, jack, fire extinguisher, a jug of windshield wiper solution.

 

Morgan’s face still bore a grimace.

 

“What is it, Derek?”

 

He let out a sigh. “Come on. This is Reid. He’d have an emergency kit in here.”

 

She nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Spence would have flares. A flashlight. Blanket. First aid kit. He’d be Mr. Prepared.”

 

A thought occurred to each of them. JJ drew a sharp breath and Derek voiced his speculation. “He took it with him?”

 

“Or someone else did,” JJ exhaled. They looked around the car but found no footprints or any other clue to the missing agent’s whereabouts. There was at least two feet of snow accumulated on the ground around the car, and around each of the other four cars still parked in the lot. The plow had not yet been through.

 

The two agents plodded their way back through the snow-drifted lot, climbed into their dark SUV and set off for Spencer Reid’s apartment, a journey covering several snow-covered blocks down the road.

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

 

Spencer woke up gradually, to the unfamiliar feeling of another’s presence, letting out a contented sigh as recollection of the past forty-eight hours set in. Dory was lying on his left arm, he noted and he hugged her closer against him. Sensing his awakening, she turned into him, laying her left arm across his bare chest and twining her right hand into his hair. Trailing kisses along his jawline, she started at his chin and worked her way up to his left ear where she paused the kisses long enough to whisper,

 

“Good morning my angel.”

 

He turned his head to face her and captured her lips in an ardent kiss, cupping her chin in his hand. She responded instantly, darting her tongue into his open mouth and causing him to let out an aroused moan. Stifling a giggle, she felt his arousal against her thigh and shifted herself into position.

 

“Mmm. Again?” she teased.

 

“You’re making me crazy,” he complained half-heartedly, pulling her atop him. They made love for the third? Fourth? Fifth? Time in two days, he couldn’t remember. Eidetic memory notwithstanding and this thought made him want to laugh, but he checked himself and allowed himself to be lost in the moment.

 

Afterward, he kissed her tenderly and murmured, “I’m no expert, but this is a really nice way to wake up.”

 

“I could get used to this myself,” she replied. “And I think we could be experts in no time at all.”

 

They’d spent the night--the last two nights--huddled together on the carpeted floor of her living room with the mattress and every blanket and quilt she had as a makeshift bed. The gas fireplace gave off the only heat—and not much of it—in the apartment. The power had gone out not long after Spencer had arrived Friday night. Her landline phone was out. And the batteries in both their cellphones had long since died.

 

She wrapped three quilts tighter around them and they snuggled together for a few minutes before she gave in and had to go to the bathroom, wrapping herself up in one of the quilts for the journey. Spencer shivered with cold but stood up, taking another of the quilts and padded over to the thermostat on the wall. He frowned and made his way to a light switch. Flipping it up and down accomplished nothing.

 

As Dory returned to the living room, he updated her, “Power’s still out.”

 

She nodded. “Hot water’s done now too. We’re roughing it. It’s almost like camping,” she said, stepping closer to him. “But without the campfire,” she continued, indicating the gas fireplace, a poor substitute for an actual fire.

 

“Or the marshmallows,” he lamented, holding her close. “Dammit, it’s cold. Thermostat says it’s 40 degrees in here and I dispute that.”

 

“I know how to warm you up,” leading him back to their pallet.

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

“They wouldn’t let us into the building, Hotch. Said it was evacuated on Friday night because of a watermain break,” Morgan reported upon his and JJ’s return to the office. The unit was sitting at their round table in the conference room, emergency lighting illuminating them with limited power. The building’s generator had come on moments after the electricity had gone out, but only for emergency use.

 

“So do we know if he was there or not?”

 

“I said they wouldn’t let us into the building. But that didn’t stop us,” Morgan indicated his cohort. “JJ distracted them and I went in anyway. Nothing looked out of place. No sign of a struggle or intruder. His go bag was beside the sofa where he always leaves it. He’d obviously been to the library recently, there was probably ten books on the table next to the sofa. There was one call on the answering machine. Mine, when I called him around nine, to see if he made it home okay. But his stuff was there so he obviously made it home. Must’ve gone out after.”

 

“It’s not like Spence to not call or text you if you left a message, so he probably left before you called,” JJ surmised.

 

“He did say he was going home when he left here Friday night, right?” Rossi inquired, rising from his seat.

 

Hotch replied. “Yes, I think he said Indian takeout, was that it Garcia?”

 

Penelope nodded, “He was looking forward to spending the whole weekend holed up with a book. Or books. You know, given how fast he reads. There’s a nice Indian place just across the road from his building. And a Starbucks. And so, Tall, Smart and Handsome is set for the weekend.”

 

Rossi circled around the table and came to a stop at the seat usually occupied by Reid at their meetings. “You said they evacuated the building because of the watermain break. Couldn’t he just have gone to a hotel or a friend’s place for the night?”

 

“Wouldn’t he have called _me_ then? Or maybe JJ?” Morgan asked.

 

“Spence isn’t a hotel kind of person,” JJ opined. “But it still doesn’t make any sense. Why is his car, which he almost never uses, out in a snowstorm?”

 

         “Sir?” Garcia interjected with a question for Hotch. “Can I use-“ indicated her computer with her hand, not knowing whether power conservation would be required or not. He nodded affirmatively before addressing the group.

 

         “At this point, we don’t know Reid is actually missing. We have no pending cases right now. And the airport’s closed but I think it’s pretty safe to say we’re all a little worried about him. It’s just not like Reid to disappear without a word.”

 

         “His credit card was last used to put gas in that car. On Tuesday.” Garcia announced. She tapped a few more keys on her computer, made a face and tapped some more. Slapping the side of the computer, she grumbled, “That is **not** the answer I wanted. Try again!” tapping furiously, she sat back and waited.

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

 

         “Should I brave outside and go see if the coffee shop is open, Spence?” Dory received no answer and gingerly moved out from under the mountain of quilts to discover that Spencer had fallen asleep. Smiling, she tucked all the quilts in around him and got dressed quickly, grabbed her keys and purse and slipped out the door.

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

 

         He stirred and turned over, intending to gather her into his arms and woke fully when he realised she wasn’t there. Assuming she’d just gone to use the bathroom, he let his mind wander to revisit the events of the last two days in the meantime. A smile crossed his face when he recalled their telephone conversation Friday evening.

 

         “I’ve never seen snow like this before!” he’d exclaimed.

 

         “Desert boy,” she’d teased. “It sounds like the perfect time to stock up on wine and cheese and crackers and just stay warm inside playing Settlers of Catan or-“

 

         “Are you inviting me over?” he’d asked, instantly preferring that idea to a night at home alone just reading. Not that there’s anything wrong with reading, he thought.

 

         “Absolutely!” she’d enthused, making his mind up for him almost immediately.

 

         “Well, as long as they don’t shut down the metro, I’ll be over in- Oh hell. Even if they shut down the subway, I’ll **walk**!” he’d vowed.

 

         It hadn’t been a pleasant walk. Trudging through the ever-deepening snow, it had taken him over an hour to make the journey that by subway would only have been about ten minutes. By the time he’d arrived at her apartment, he was chilled to the bone.

 

         “Oh dear. I think you could use a coffee rather than wine for now,” she’d said and scurried off into the tiny kitchen to make it. He’d stood shivering as she’d handed it to him, then watched as Dory had disappeared into the bathroom momentarily and come back out, bath towel in hand.

 

         He smiled again as the memory of the next few hours washed over him. “Get out of those cold, wet clothes!” she’d commanded. Helping strip him of the offending articles, she had taken care to hang them to dry and wrapped him in the towel. She’d rubbed him vigorously with the towel and initially he’d concentrated on drinking the coffee and surveying the apartment. The coffee table in the living room had been set up with the Settlers game; a tray with cheese and crackers and a pair of wine glasses sat beside it. As his body stopped shivering in cold, he’d come to realise he was now shivering with something else. Her hands had stopped moving along his body, he noted. Right around the same time he’d established she was undressing herself, it had also become apparent to him that he was aroused. His previous record for speed downing of coffee was shattered as he’d gulped the remainder hurriedly before dropping the empty mug onto the couch and bringing his hands up to help her undress.

 

         They’d adjourned to the bedroom for their first session. Over the course of the night, they’d started a game of Settlers; eaten all the cheese and crackers; drank the entire bottle of wine and made love once again in the bedroom, once on the living room floor partway through the Settlers game--he’d had to pay for some of the resources he needed and this was her preferred currency-- and again in the shower at about 3 am. At some point in the night, he’d retrieved his now dry clothes but she had immediately confiscated all but the socks.

 

They’d had the TV news on briefly at eleven pm and had learned the city was virtually shut down. “As if the subway being closed and me having to walk here wasn’t indication enough” he’d remarked, and as they’d finally settled into bed –to sleep this time—the power flickered briefly then went out.

 

When they’d awakened around nine on the Saturday morning, the apartment bedroom was quite cold. Dory had suggested moving into the living room where the gas fireplace would afford them at least a little heat and they’d moved the mattress from her bed, along with all available quilts and blankets. He’d noticed the contents of the glove box and emergency kit from his car were piled up on the little table by the apartment entrance. The blanket from the kit had been added to the pile currently heaped in the center of her living room.

 

“Oh. Yeah. That,” she’d started, when she noticed his discovery. “Um. Spencer, first of all, thank you again for lending me the car to go upstate to see my mom the other day. It’s parked out in the lot across the street. And this is gonna sound stupid, but, I brought almost everything in. I couldn’t get the key out of the ignition. It was stuck. I didn’t wanna leave any valuables out there, so I just brought it all in. God, that sounds lame, since the car **is** the actual valuable-“ she trailed off. He’d laughed and shrugged it off, enveloping her in a hug and kissing her.

 

“Don’t worry about it. Car’s not going anywhere in this storm anyway. We’ll deal with it later. Tomorrow even.”

 

“Okay, and now for the worst news of all. There’s no electricity. I can’t make coffee.”

 

“My life is over,” he’d said, deadpan, trying to keep a straight face but failing utterly and collapsing into a fit of laughter.

 

“There’s more wine.”

 

“It’s nine o’clock in the morning!”

 

“Cereal and milk it is then, everything’s closed,” she’d retrieved milk from the refrigerator and cereal from a cupboard and set out breakfast.

 

He heard the key in the lock and realised that Dory hadn’t been in the bathroom while he’d been reliving the previous day. He got up out of the blankets, wrapped himself in one and met her as she entered the apartment, bearing a carrier with two enormous coffees in it. He took the tray from her as she shrugged off her coat and boots.

 

“Still no electricity,” he told her.

 

“But there is coffee. All’s good in your world again?”

 

Kissing the top of her head, he replied “All’s good in my world right now anyway, coffee or not. But coffee’s good, yeah. Coffee shop’s got power?”

 

“Generator. But they aren’t staying open. They were just making up coffee to give out to the plow operators and emergency services people. I got two because I told them you were law enforcement.”

 

“I don’t know whether to be impressed by your ingenuity or disappointed by your underhandedness.”

 

She reached out and whipped the quilt away from him, leaving him standing naked, save for his mismatched socks, before her.

 

“How about stunned by my insatiability?” She gave him a minute to absorb this then continued, “Drink. That. Coffee. NOW.”

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

 

“Oh!” Garcia grumbled again as her computer did not cooperate. “Seriously! How much trouble can it Possibly. Be?” each word punctuated by another slap to the side of the computer.

 

“The customer you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please try again later,” Morgan growled as he mimicked the voice message, then turned to Hotch and JJ and said “His cell is still off.”

 

“Is the service down in DC?” JJ asked.

 

Hotch nodded. “Appears to be, I can’t get a hold of Jessica either.”

 

“How about you, JJ? Will and the boys okay?”

 

“Yes. And as much as I want to be home with them, Will was very understanding about me staying here, wanting to find Spence. They built a fort in the living room and are camping out, having a boys night.”

 

At that moment, Rossi stepped into the room, bearing several pizza boxes.

 

“Just preparing for our second night here,” he set the pizza down on the conference room table, along with an array of napkins and paper plates.

 

“Worrying about our missing genius doesn’t mean we don’t eat.”

 

The others gathered around but were interrupted by the arrival of Agent Anderson at the door.

 

“Excuse me, Agent Hotchner? You have a call on the landline. Line 2.”

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

 

“I’ll tell you what I am impressed with. And that’s how much you apparently want me,” he whispered as they cuddled together under their mountain of quilts.

 

“Oh you better believe it, Desert Boy,”

 

“Did I mention I love the snow?”

 

Later, they made peanut butter sandwiches and found some fruit and yogurt in Dory’s fridge for a late lunch. She took a bottle of red wine from a cupboard and opened it, pouring them each a glass. As they ate, they heard the snow plow finally go by. It appeared the city was returning to somewhat operational. The power was still out and the landline still did not work at Dory’s apartment, but when they looked out the window, they could see lights on in the distance by the Smithsonian.

 

They finished their game of Settlers and the bottle of red wine. Reid scratched his chin and ran his hand through his hair.

 

“What’s wrong, Spence?

 

“This has been a wonderful weekend, Dory. I’ve never had a better one.”

 

“But?”

 

“I’ve gotta go back to work tomorrow. Unshaven. Unshowered. And in the same clothes I’ve been wearing all weekend.”

 

“You haven’t been wearing clothes all weekend,” she pointed out, only half-kidding. He made a face at her. “You could take a cold shower,” she offered.

 

He surprised her by nodding in agreement. “I could probably **use** that!”

 

“Can you shave with cold water?”

 

He headed off into the bathroom and she could hear him grumbling while he attended to those chores. She set about cleaning up the kitchen and then moved back to their quilt bed to wait for him.

 

When he returned, she shuffled over to make room for him to join her under their blankets and settled into the cradle of his arm.

 

“I forgot to mention earlier. When I got the coffees? The plow guys were saying one of their machines hit a trunk line a couple blocks over, that’s why the landlines are down. Pepco is still working on restoring electricity in many parts of the area.”

 

Spencer nodded his understanding. “We can occupy ourselves with other things until the power is restored.”

 

She raised an eyebrow. “Again?”

 

He looked askance at her for an instant before her meaning sank in and then said, in an almost frightened tone of voice, “Oh god no, not right now. I couldn’t. I’m sorry?”

 

She giggled and came up with an alternative, “I’d love to read, but it’s getting dark—“

 

“Life in the Woods, Henry David Thoreau,” Spencer said.

 

“What?” she murmured.

 

“I can read it to you, from memory, if you like,” he offered, drawing her closer in his embrace.

 

“Spencer. I would love that!”

 

“ _When_ _I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbour, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore_ _of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labour of my hands only. I lived there two years and two months. At present I am a sojourner in civilized life again_ ,” he began, tilting his head down so their lips could meet.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

 

“That was Jessica. She did the smart thing. Tried a landline. Jack is fine, they’ve also spent the day making a fort in the living room. Funny how kids love that, isn’t it?” Hotch actually smiled as he sat down and joined the others for pizza.

“Wherever Reid is, I wish he’d think to use a landline,” Rossi groused.

“If he can,” JJ said softly. “I swear to God, I want a GPS device implanted in him when he does get back here.”

“Okay. Got something,” Garcia told them, as she read off the laptop screen in front of her. “Last cell call he made was on Friday night, about 8 30. To a number….checking…..oh for heaven’s sakes,” she broke off, slapping the side of the laptop again.

They settled in for the night, the third consecutive BAU popcorn and movie night though no one was really interested in watching a movie. Garcia kept checking on the progress of her laptop search. Morgan stared at his cellphone and willed it to ring. His will was ignored. JJ spent a restless half hour watching the gangster film Rossi had brought before giving up and settling in to sleep. Hotch and Rossi watched the movie, falling asleep before it ended.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

The power returned to Dory’s apartment just as he kissed her goodbye and promised to return to her after work that night. His arms were full of the things she’d removed from his car and he picked his steps gingerly as he walked across the snow dusty road and into the lot where it was parked. He opened the door, hit the trunk open button and then moved to the rear of the vehicle to dump all the things in his hands into the waiting trunk.

He returned to the driver’s side, almost folding himself in half trying to get into the car and laughed as he adjusted the seat back to his usual setting. The key moved under his hand and he turned it.

His car wouldn’t start.

Several words, all bad, occurred to him but he said nothing aloud. Retrieving the key from the ignition, he reminded himself to tell Dory the little trick about pushing it in harder and turning it slightly forward to release it from the ignition next time, then he turned to get out of the car and found himself face to face with a man wearing a ski-mask.

“Need some help?” the man asked. He was dressed in winter gear from head to toe, only his eyes and mouth were uncovered. He motioned to the vehicle next to Reid’s. “I’m a tow truck driver, we’re trying to get everyone going here. Need a boost?”

“OH.” A huge sigh of relief issued from Reid’s mouth, followed quickly by ‘Yes and thank you.”

The man and his similarly dressed partner soon had Reid’s car going, and the young man was on his way. It occurred to him only after he was already on the beltway, that he should have plugged his cellphone into its charger in the car. Oh well, he’d been late for work before, if the weather wasn’t a good excuse this time, it never would be.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Pepco had fully restored power to the FBI building and the Quantico area roads had all been plowed overnight. Hotch made his way through the room in which the unit had set up beds, waking up Rossi, JJ and Morgan.

“Hey, the power’s back and the roads have all been taken care of, why don’t you all go home and get some proper rest?”

He was met with a chorus of “Have we heard from Reid?”

Garcia stepped into the room, “I have it! I have the number.”

Four pairs of eyes widened and four faces registered visible signs of relief at that moment, though their gazes all reached past Garcia. Her brow furrowed questioningly for an instant and then she sensed another presence. She turned around just in time to find herself face to face with Spencer Reid.

“OH! 187! Where have you been?” She hugged him. Then slapped his arm, “We have been so worried! Why didn’t you call?”

“What? Sorry!” he reacted to the slap.

“We were worried sick, Spence!” JJ piped up. “Wondering whether you’d been kidnapped, injured out there somewhere or lost in the snow. It must’ve been a horrible weekend.”

He licked his lip, then bit his tongue as his mind raced with possible replies. JJ’s and Garcia’s distress seemed palpable. Even Morgan and Rossi seemed genuine in their concern.

“Awful weekend. Just awful. Car wouldn’t start. Had to walk in the snow. Froze my ass off.” He waited while they all sympathised.

“I spent the weekend at a friend’s,” he started.

Garcia coughed.

“There was-“

“A watermain break at your apartment,” Morgan said. Reid’s brow furrowed.

“The power and landlines were down at my friend’s place. We were snowbound.”

Garcia coughed again.

“We spent the weekend roughing it.”

Garcia coughed again.

“Penelope, are you all right?”

She nodded, barely able to contain a wicked smile.

“I had to shave and shower in cold water.”

Garcia muttered something under her breath.

“What was that?” Reid asked.

“Oh I just bet you did,” she replied.

“Bet I did what?” he asked.

“Shower in cold water!”

He blushed as she waved around a piece of paper.

“The phone number, I have the phone number,” she teased. He reached for it.

“Oh no, my sweet and charming genius. You already **know** this number.”

“Wait. Reid has a number?” Morgan asked. “Give me that!” He moved to take it from her.

“Nuh uh, my Sweet Chocolate Thunder. This one is Boy Genius’ number.”

She tore it up into dozens of pieces and taking Reid’s hand, placed the pieces into his open palm, closing it over the pieces.

“Just don’t do that,” she indicated the dozens of pieces, “to her heart.”

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX


End file.
